I run a small marketing agency. I'm married. I have kids. I live in Enterprise, Utah, at about 5,318 feet. I coach middle school cross country.
I also ran 3:09:54 at the St. George Marathon on Oct 3. That's my PB. It wasn't my first marathon. My St. George the year before was 3:46:05.
So people ask me how to train for a marathon with a full life. I have answers. I don't always follow them.
Here's what I'd tell you, and here's what I actually do.
What I'd tell you: Run the first miles slower than you want to. The race starts late. The early miles are where you spend money you'll need later.
What I actually did: I went out too fast. At St. George, miles 1–7 took me 44:04. The pace sheet said 48:04. That's four minutes banked in the first seven miles. It felt fast, with controlled effort. That's the trap.
Around miles 22–23 my hamstrings cramped. I had to stop completely and stand there until the pain passed. Miles 25–26 took 19:14.
Four minutes up early. A lot of it handed back at the end.
My read: fatigue plus eccentric load from the downhill. Your hamstrings and quads brake every step. Go out hot on that and the bill comes late.
The fix is stricter early pacing. Not "a little slower." Stricter. Pick the number and hold it even when it feels too easy.
What I'd tell you: Protect the long run. My standard week is Wednesday speed, Saturday long run, Sunday off. If you only keep two runs in a hard week, keep the speed day and the long run.
What I actually do: Look at my last two weeks.
Oct 19–25 was 26.46 miles. No long run. The plan had 10–12 on Saturday. Saturday was a zero.
Oct 26–Nov 1 was supposed to be peak week for the Snow Canyon Half. Plan was 36–38 miles over six days, with 12 on Saturday. I ran 16.28 miles over three days. No long run there either. Family was in town and the weather was bad.
So, two weeks, zero long runs. That's the honest version.
What I didn't do is stack it on Sunday. Missed miles stay missed. A long run crammed into the wrong day, on tired legs, is how you trade a missed workout for an injury.
What I'd tell you: You will miss days. Work runs long. A kid gets sick. That's life, and you'll be okay. One missed day doesn't erase a training block.
But don't miss on purpose. There's a difference between life taking a day and you handing it over.
What I actually do: My weeks swing. I've had 60-mile weeks next to zero-mile weeks. That's not a strategy. It's what happens when work and family and running share the same seven days.
The thing I try to get right is the comeback. After a zero week, no hero rebound. I don't try to make the miles back. I go back to the plan for the week I'm actually in.
On Oct 19–25 the quality session was planned for Thursday: cruise intervals. Thursday turned into 3.56 miles squeezed between client calls. The speed moved to Friday. It changed shape too: 1 mile at 5:50, a mile easy, then 1 mile at 6:30 up a dirt hill. Not the workout on paper. But it got run.
On Oct 26–Nov 1 Wednesday was busy, so the quality moved to Thursday. Both weeks, it landed a day late. A call cut the warm-up short. I finished it on a treadmill: 1 mile at 6:00, half a mile at 6:00, then 4×1:00 at 6:00.
Moving a workout a day is fine. Dropping it every time something comes up isn't.
What I'd tell you: Do strength work. Make it specific to what your race asks for. A downhill marathon asks your legs to brake for 26 miles. Train that.
What I actually do: Not enough of the right kind. That's the clearest lesson from St. George. The cramp came from fatigue plus eccentric load. The fix is more specific strength work. More of what the downhill actually does to your legs.
This is where I'd rather be honest than look good. The 3:09:54 is real. So is standing still on the course around mile 22 waiting for my hamstrings to let go.
What I'd tell you: Have a plan and practice it.
What I actually did: Gels starting after mile 5, then every 30 minutes. Electrolytes around miles 17 and 21. That part held up. Fueling wasn't the problem. Pacing and strength were.
What I'd tell you: Your training has to fit your actual life, not the life on a training plan. Build the week around what doesn't move.
What I actually do: Wednesday speed. Saturday long. Sunday off. That's the frame. It bends every week. Client calls move. Family stuff comes first. Some weeks I get 60 miles. Some weeks it doesn't and I get zero.
None of that stopped me from running a 1:21:04 half or a 36:39 10K split inside a half. Or from taking 36 minutes off my St. George time in a year. Fitness built over months survives a bad week. It doesn't survive a bad habit.
The point isn't to train like you have nothing else going on. You do. I do.
The point is to make the speed you build tough enough to survive a missed Saturday, a moved workout, a week that falls apart at the end.
Next up is the Snow Canyon Half on Nov 14. The plan for this week is about 28–33 miles. No cramming the missed long runs back in. Just the week I'm in.
So here's the honest gap between my advice and my life. I'd tell you to pace stricter, protect the long run, and do the right strength work. I've broken all three. I'm fixing them one race at a time.
That gap doesn't mean the advice is wrong. It means a full life is the real training plan. Run the week you have. Don't throw away the one you could have had.